There may be certain situations, in both commercial or private residential properties, where it might become necessary to limit which individuals can use a lift or have access to certain floors/ levels.The control of the use of a lift and access within a building from a lift can be achieved by installing keypad security within the lift cabin as illustrated in this photo:
The top set of rectangular buttons is the keypad security system.The circular buttons (numbers 3,2,1 and G) below the keypad are the floor level request buttons.
There are various ways in which the keypad can be configured to control the operation of a lift, for example:
1. The lift will not move at all unless a security code has been entered via the keypad.
2. Another scenario can be that each individual floor level has its own unique code – ideal for buildings where there are no communal landings/ corridors and the lift travels up and down a lift shaft that has direct access into an individual flat/ apartment at each floor level.
3. Another option is that a keypad security code is required to gain access to just one specific floor only and access to all other floors in the building via the lift is not restricted. This type of set up might be used in an office or commercial building where there might be a need to control access to an individual floor in order to reduce the possibility of industrial espionage or protect physical access to data storage facilities.
4. In nursing homes, hospices and other such environments there may well be entire lifts, such as stretcher bed lifts, where the lift landing doors will not even open to allow access into the lift cabin without a security code having been entered from the landing/ corridor in order to provide discreet travel and respect for the deceased and not to upset the public.
5. In private residential lifts there might also be situations where access to or control of a lift might need to be restricted- for example, maybe to stop young children or people with severe dementia from being able to use the lift alone all by themselves.
Here at Special Lift Projects International Ltd we have experience with the matters raised in this article and can help our clients by explaining what options are available when considering the planning and installation of a commercial or private residential lift.